


What Goes Up (Must Come Down)

by sad_goomy



Series: Gladmoon Week 2019 [3]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Sun & Moon | Pokemon Sun & Moon Versions
Genre: Accidental Flirting, Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe, Banter, Denial of Feelings, F/M, Inspired by Anastasia (1997), Pre-Relationship, Prompt Fic, Unresolved Romantic Tension, it's the anastasia!au, this takes place at the end of the 'learn to do it' arc
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-25
Updated: 2019-03-25
Packaged: 2019-12-07 18:00:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,290
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18238343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sad_goomy/pseuds/sad_goomy
Summary: In just a few days, Hau and Gladion have turned the amnesiac Moon into the perfect candidate for the lost Princess Selene. Now if they want to collect the prize money, they just have to get to Prince Elio in Kalos.It would be a lot simpler if her and Gladion weren't constantly at each other's throats.At least Hau finds it entertaining.





	What Goes Up (Must Come Down)

 

**Thistle**

_Nobility and graciousness_

 

* * *

 

Gladion’s found a new favorite past-time: riling up Moon. 

It’s all too easy to push her buttons, and though she pushes his back in kind, it’s worth it to see the pout on her face. 

He thought making her ride a horse through the mountain path – after all, the Grand Duchess Selene could horseback ride at the age of three – was priceless, up until she proved to be a natural and he was bucked from his own horse. 

Luckily the mud broke his fall. 

It’s proved harder and harder to get a rise out of her the longer they’ve traveled together, and Hau’s little smirks and suggestive eyebrow raises don’t help. He keeps mumbling about his stupid “unspoken attraction” idea, and Gladion’s lost track of the number of times he’s swatted at the young man’s arm to shut him up before Moon hears and gets the wrong idea. 

Now, as they take their time with lunch on the side of the road, the ship to Kalos in sight and not boarding for another two hours, Gladion is left with nothing to do but watch the others as he finishes his drink. Hau is several yards away, keeping Silvally entertained with fetch, the poi dog excitedly barking each time the stick is thrown, and even Moon’s strange little owl is joining in on the game, hooting when it manages to get to the stick before Silvally. 

Moon sits across from him, separated by the few stray apples left from lunch on their blanket. Her back is against a tree, her brows furrowed in concentration as she reads some novel she picked up at the village they passed a few miles back. He can just make out the title from where he sits, and he raises a brow; he didn’t expect a romance novel, but a guide to naturally-occurring poisons and their uses doesn’t strike him as light reading material. 

She’s halfway through a passage on belladonna when the book is plucked out of her hands. She looks up and into the eyes of Gladion, who leans over, holding the book up with a smirk. With a frown to mask her playful tone, she asks, “Can I help you?” 

Being this close to her, he can count the individual freckles on her cheeks, and he loses his train of thought for just a moment. “Your posture is terrible.” 

“Is that any way to speak to a princess?” 

The challenge is clear in her voice, and he takes the bait. It’s strange how easily she can bring out the competitive side of him, this need to prove that he can keep up with every step – it's been a while since someone’s really made him prove it. 

“Your posture is terrible,” he repeats, throwing in a sweeping bow and a candy-coated, “ _Your highness.”_  

She scowls, but with little more than a huff she’s sitting straighter, with her shoulders back and neck elongated. “Better?” 

He tsks, bringing a hand up to his mouth in thought (and to hide his amused smile). “What about when you stand?” 

“I’m not going to...” She finishes her thought with another huff, because she can tell from that Look that he’s giving her that he isn’t going to back down. If she wants her book back, she’ll have to play along just a little longer, and an idea pops into her head. With a too pleasant smile, she stands with her head held high and chest out. “There - I’ve perfected my royal walk, too.” 

There’s a flicker of suspicion in his face – he knows she’s planning something, can tell when she has a trick up her sleeve – but he indulges her. “Have you now? That I’d like to see.” 

Holding out a hand, she waits as he slowly hands her the book. Once it’s secured, she could very well go back to reading, ending their little game like they end all their little spats, but instead Moon places the book atop her head and begins to walk forward, forcing Gladion to keep in time with her steps backwards. 

Though the novel shakes slightly with every step, it stays on her head, and he lets out a low whistle. 

“You’re right. You look like a true Hoshizaki.” 

“That’s because I am one,” she quips, though her stomach still turns at the possibility that she might not be. What if Elio looks at her and doesn’t recognize her? What if they go all the way to Kalos just for her to be told to go back to a life as another nobody? 

Seeing the frown and doubt threatening to take over her face, he’s quick to distract; after all, he needs her to keep believing, for just a little longer. “All you need is a tiara. We’ll get you one.” 

She snorts, honest to goodness  _snorts,_ like no Grand Duchess should, and it only makes him smile. “Those are in short supply.” 

“You underestimate me.” 

“And you underestimate  _me_.” They pause in their walking, and Moon leans in just a hair closer, answering the question he hasn’t asked with one of her own. “Have you noticed we’ve been walking uphill?” 

He turns to see a second too late, and she gives his chest a gentle push, just hard enough to send him stumbling down the grassy hill they’ve reached the top of. 

 

But he doesn’t go down alone. 

 

Trying to balance himself at the last moment, he reaches out, and she squeals, and the book goes flying off her head as he takes her down with him. They’re tumbling down, rolling over one another, a mess of limbs and shrieks and even a laugh or two as their bodies settle at the bottom. 

It’s a compromising position for sure – she's laying underneath him, hair splayed out like a dark halo amongst the wildflowers, and he’s above, keeping himself up with his hands, but close enough that he can see individual lashes. 

Neither of them moves. 

His chuckle starts light but it ends low, something stirring in his stomach the longer they stay like this. “Cute plan if it didn’t backfire.” 

“You always ruin my fun.” Her usual smirk is missing, replaced instead by a breathless wonder at how they ended up like this. 

 

“I wouldn’t have to if you weren’t so...hot-blooded.” 

 

He doesn’t mean to linger on that word, to lean onto an elbow, dropping his face ever closer to hers. 

She doesn’t mean to bite her lip, to tilt her chin up just a fraction of an inch. 

 

“Is that such a bad thing?” 

 

Someone coughs. “Having fun?” 

Moon all but shoves Gladion off, scrambling to sit up as they both turn to see Hau watching with a mysterious smile. Even Silvally and Rowlet seem to know something they don’t, the dog sitting and looking between the two as the owl gives a hoot from Hau’s shoulder. 

“I was until he nearly killed me,” Moon snaps, desperate to hide her blush as she stands and stomps away from the two men. She stops to pick up her book from the patch of grass where it landed, and raises it above her head, shaking it with a righteous fury as she walks back to her tree. “And the spine is broken now, thank you very much!” 

Still not completely out of his daze but with the usual indignation building, Gladin sputters, “I didn’t - what are you –  _ugh.”_ A snicker draws his attention back to Hau, and the blond scowls as he stands, pointing an accusatory finger. “Shove it.” 

But Hau’s grin only grows. “What? I didn’t say anything about an unspoken -” 

The foghorn of the ship to Kalos blocks out the lengthy, four-letter-filled rant that Gladion delivers. 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Now that's not very nice Gladion
> 
> I've had this AU stuck in my head for at least a week, so it seems only fitting that I post it for today's prompt (although it almost feels like cheating shhh)


End file.
